A Japanese media outlet reported that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has revised its consideration for cryptocurrencies and would identify them as financial products. Nikkei, the regional media outlet, says in a report without citing sources that the agency has intended to implement the revised regulation for the sector by the early phase of 2026.
It is worth noting that the agency is gearing up to submit a revised copy of the bill to the nation’s parliament to implement the change in the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
There are many more expectations that crypto could be classified under an entirely different category, and not be kept in the category of bonds and stocks.
The revised stance might back the growth in crypto users in Japan
Experts say that the classification of crypto under a different category is expected to help traders and users explore new potential and opportunities in national as well as global markets.
Available information notes that by the end of 2024, Japan’s total number of crypto users was 11.8 million, of which 7 million have been actively engaged in crypto-related activities.
In terms of crypto adoption, Japan is ranked 23rd, South Korea is ranked 19th, and India has succeeded in achieving 1st rank in the past 2 years.
A few available reports note that the revenue of the Japanese crypto market is expected to reach $723.2 million. Yet, the global crypto recently hit the milestone of 650 million users, which is expected to reach 1 billion by the same period.
Per the current tax slab of Japan, the tax imposed on crypto will be between 15% – 55%. The implementation of the revised bill is expected in early 2026. Following implementation, there are higher chances of a reduction in taxes and other charges imposed on crypto.
There are arguments that the revision in the bill is the follow-up move to tackling growing crypto-related crimes such as money laundering and wire fraud.
A report by Chainalysis published in November 2024 notes that social media scams and romance scams have garnered traction, resulting in severe losses; till the publishing of the report, crypto investment scheme scams were 6,868 cases, and more than 4,600 cases of romance scams were identified.
The blockchain analysis firm also tracked thousands of transactions concerning money laundering in which the funds have been transferred from Japanese exchanges to suspected wallets.
Crypto market price updates
Until publishing, the crypto market cap was at $2.61 trillion, down by 5.21% in a week and more than 18% in a quarter, and the monthly average trading volume was $163.53 billion.
The fear and greed index is tumbling to the verge, and till writing, it was at 24, indicating fear and cautiousness in the market sentiment; in the intraday time frame, Bitcoin is down by 1.82% and is now trading at $82,963.
According to CoinMarketCap, the intraday gainer’s list has been topped by Four, ZCash, Flare, Tether Gold, and Toncoin; in the same frame, losers are PI, Movement, Berachain, Hedera, Sei, and Cronos.
